{"id":1479,"date":"2018-01-23T12:19:05","date_gmt":"2018-01-23T17:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/?p=1479"},"modified":"2018-01-23T12:19:05","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T17:19:05","slug":"personality-changes-during-transition-to-developing-mild-cognitive-impairment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/personality-changes-during-transition-to-developing-mild-cognitive-impairment\/","title":{"rendered":"Personality Changes During Transition to Developing Mild Cognitive Impairment"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Journal of the American Geriatrics Society<\/span><\/em>\u00a0Research Summary<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A key feature of Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a> is memory loss and losing one\u2019s ability to think and make decisions (also called \u201ccognitive ability\u201d). Those changes can begin slowly, during a phase called \u201cmild cognitive impairment\u201d (or MCI). A variety of diseases can cause MCI, but the most common is Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

Not all people who have MCI develop Alzheimer\u2019s disease\u2014but if memory loss is a person\u2019s key MCI symptom, and if that person\u2019s genes (DNA) suggests they may be likely to develop Alzheimer\u2019s disease, the risk for the condition can be as high as 90 percent.<\/p>\n

Personality changes and behavior problems that come with Alzheimer\u2019s disease are as troubling as memory loss and other mental difficulties for caregivers and those living with the condition. Mayo Clinic researchers wondered if personality changes that begin early, when MCI memory loss becomes noticeable, might help predict Alzheimer\u2019s disease at its earliest stages. The researchers created a study to test their theory and published their findings in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Researchers recruited cognitively normal participants 21-years-old and older who were genetically more likely to develop Alzheimer\u2019s disease. The recruitment period began in January 1994 and ended in December 2016. Researchers also recruited people without a genetic likelihood for developing Alzheimer\u2019s disease to serve as a control group. All participants took several tests, including medical and neurological (or brain) exams. They were also screened for depression, as well as cognitive and physical function.<\/p>\n

After analyzing results, the researchers concluded that personality changes, which can lead to changes in behavior, occur early on during the development of Alzheimer\u2019s disease. The behavioral changes, however, may be barely noticeable, and can include mood swings, depression<\/a>, and anxiety<\/a>. They suggested that further research might be needed to learn whether diagnosing these early personality changes could help experts develop earlier, safer, and more effective treatments\u2014or even prevention options\u2014for the more severe types of behavior challenges that affect people with Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

This summary is from <\/strong>\u201cPersonality Changes During the Transition from Cognitive Health to Mild Cognitive Impairment.\u201d<\/strong><\/a> It appears online ahead of print in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society<\/em>. <\/strong>The study authors<\/strong> are Richard J. Caselli, MD; Blake T. Langlais, BS; Amylou C. Dueck, PhD; Bruce R. Henslin, BA; Travis A. Johnson, BA; Bryan K. Woodruff, MD; Charlene Hoffman-Snyder, DNP; and Dona E. C. Locke, PhD.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society\u00a0Research Summary A key feature of Alzheimer\u2019s disease is memory loss and losing one\u2019s ability to think and make decisions (also called \u201ccognitive ability\u201d). Those changes can begin slowly, during a phase called \u201cmild cognitive … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[91],"tags":[103,109],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1479"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1485,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions\/1485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}